Improvement in the construction of burglar-proof safes



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arr/um DEViCES.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THADDEUS SELLEOK, OF GREENWIGH, CONNECTICUT, AND W. H. BUTLER,

' OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF BURGLAR-PROOF SAFES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 33,455, dated October 8, 1861. I

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, THADDEUS SELLEcK, of Greenwich, in the county of Fairiield and State of Connecticut, and WILLIAM H. BUT- LER, of New York, in the county and State of New York, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in the Construction of Burglar-Proof Safes and we do hereby declare the following to be a full description thereof.

Our improvement consists in the use of that peculiar metal known as Franklinite iron, principally procured from the zinc ores of New Jersey, either alone or in combination with other metal, as a material for safes and other burglar-proof structures. It is based on the property possessed by that metal of resisting all attempts to work it by means of steel tools, either by cutting or abrasion.

We construct our safes of any proper form or dimensions. Our invention does notrelate in any manner to the form or proportions. In uniting the Franklinitemetal to other iron for this'purpose, we place suitable pieces of the Franklinite upon the wrought or cast iron, previously brought to the proper form, together with a small quantity of borax'or other flux, and heat the whole in a fire of sufficient intensity to cause the Franklinite to melt and flow over the surface. On cooling, it will be found to be so thoroughly welded to or incorporated with the other iron, or with the surface thereof, as to be irremova'ble and so hard as to resist all tools brought against it. This coating may be placed either on the exterior or interior face of the common iron. Itmay be found advisable in some cases to cast plates of pure Franklinite and place them within the framing of an ordinary wrought or cast iron safe. Such plates are superior to the hardened steel plates nowin use in such situations in resistin g burglars tools, as wellas much cheaper.

\Ve can constructburglar-proof safes according to our invention either by casting Franklinite upon the surface of a wrought or cast iron frame-work, as above described, or by casting the entire frame of the safe or an entire door or other part of the said metal; but in order to guard against the destruction of such a structure by percussion, it is preferable to inclose such casting in a wrought-iron or other suitable case, or to cast bars or other wrought-iron parts within the metal, as the extreme brittleness of the Franklinite iron renders it liable to give way under repeated concussions.

This metal thus applied to safes effectually resists all attempts at drilling or cutting through the same. TVhen it is cast thinly on the surface of a wrought-iron safe it will not give way to the hammer, except to crack into pieces more or less minute, still adhering firmly to the structure. Such safes are, we believe, completely burglar-proof, it protected by a proper lock.

Having now fully described )ur invention, what we claim as new therei' I and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The employment of the above described Franklinite orothersiinilarly constituted metal, either alone or in combination with wrought or cast iron in the construction of burglarproofsafes and analogous burglar-proofstructures, substantially as and for the purposes above specified.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our names in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

THADDEUS SELLECK. W. H. BUTLER. \Vitnesses tosignature of T. Selleelc:

THOMAS D. SrErsoN, G. 11. BABcocK. "Witnesses to signature of W. H. Butler:

THOMAS D. STETSON, D. W. SrETsoN. 

